The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-03-25
I'm THE OIL REGIONS.
The Noteworthy Struggle thai Wound Up
the Career of Phenomenal Town.


The topic was draw poker. and it had
been suggested to group OF half u
dozen New Workers in tho Aston House
rotunda by newspaper paragraph
, which said that the little town of State
Line was the greatest place for poker
playing In all the oil regions.
"Well, that's saying a good deal. !"
said man in the group, '.for consider
ing, the size of their average pile, the
oil-tield poker sharps will stick TO u
pair of aces rs faithfully as anybody
that ever took cards"
.But / knew of an oil town that in
the summer of 1882 had about $4,000
inhabitants" the same man went on,
''and by November of that year the sole
industry of the town was draw poker.
1t was the town of Garfield, in Warren
county. In the early part of the sum-
mer the first wild cat well in the Cherry
Groove district blew the drill out of the
hole and began flooding the region
with oil. Within few weeks rail
road was running over logs through the
hemlock forest, city of shanties and
tents had sprung up, and the drilling
wells were SO thick that tho bull wheels
almost rubbed against one another. 1t
was estimated that Is, 900 persons were
on top of that barren hill; there were
theatres, dance houses, pool rooms, and
gambling bells; all the noted fighters of
the oil region were there, and the boom
was the biggest thing of its kind ever
seen in this country.
"But the oil came out like water from
q blister after half dozen wells had
been sunk, and by the time snow fell
every we'll was dry hole. About the
only persons left there when ! visited
the town, just before the holidays, were
the keeper of what had been tho princi-
pal hotel, n Hebrew clothier, and a
Chinese lanndryman. The hotel man
had big house on his hands. and was
waiting for chance to sell it for old
lumber. The Hebrew olothicr's pecu-
liarity was that he came there in his
shirt sleeves, and no man ever had seen
him have q coat on. The Chinaman
was so fascinated by jack pots that he
couldn't get away. These three resi-
dents had settled down 10 poker play
ing, evidently to sec which of the three
should have what money they had left.
They played in n room that had been
occupied by the Sunday school of the
First Methodist Church. Every morn
ing. after late breakfast. the hotel
keeper buttoned up his great coat and
walked lcisurely to the poker room. the
clotnier's white shirt sleeves flashed
around the corner, and the flowing toy
gerry of the Chinaman fluttered i'm the
blast rs he joined the two other men.
They kept up the game till late at
night. was there three days, and saw
no other industry.
1.-The next spring Twas in Warren, and
inquired how the game came out. The
Chinaman's weakness for jack pots
ruined him, they said, and he was last
seen striking out cross lots for Oil City.
The Hebrew clothier hung on better, but
his caution in the matter OF blufiing en-
abled the hotel man gradually TO break
him by taking an ante out OF him every
time he had the ace or drew cards. He
went away in his shirt sleeves in a
clustering snow storm about the 1st OF
March. The hotelkeeper had pipe OF
natural gas running into his bar-roon,
stove, and he sat by the firo till warm
weather, and then opened another house
up in the New York oil field"